Image map
In HTML and XHTML , an image map is a list of coordinates relating to a specific image, created in order to hyperlink areas of the image to various destinations (as opposed to a normal image link, in which the entire area of the image links to a single destination). For example, a map of the world may have each country hyperlinked to further information about that country. The intention of an image map is to provide an easy way of linking various parts of an image without dividing the image into separate image files. History Kevin Hughes invented the image map while he was a student at Honolulu Community College (HCC). Definition in HTML In HTML a imagemap is made of the actual image, that is embedded with the -Tag. The image gets simultaneously the attibute usemap. The imagemap comprise -Tag and in the detail of the -tags, which defines the fields with the weblinks. These are similar to the -Tag defining which URL should be opened. Following code defines a rectangular area (9,372,66,397) with an link to the English Wikipedia: Image maps use Image:JoshuaReynoldsParty.jpg|Image map example of The Club (Literary Club). Clicking on a person in the picture causes the browser to load the appropriate article.|350px|thumb poly 133 343 124 287 159 224 189 228 195 291 222 311 209 343 209 354 243 362 292 466 250 463 Dr Johnson - Dictionary writer poly 76 224 84 255 43 302 62 400 123 423 121 361 137 344 122 290 111 234 96 225 Boswell - Biographer poly 190 276 208 240 229 228 247 238 250 258 286 319 282 323 223 323 220 301 200 295 Sir Joshua Reynolds - Host poly 308 317 311 270 328 261 316 246 320 228 343 227 357 240 377 274 366 284 352 311 319 324 David Garrick - actor poly 252 406 313 343 341 343 366 280 383 273 372 251 378 222 409 228 414 280 420 292 390 300 374 360 359 437 306 418 313 391 272 415 Edmund Burke - statesman rect 418 220 452 287 Pasqual Paoli - Corsican patriot poly 455 238 484 253 505 303 495 363 501 377 491 443 429 439 423 375 466 352 Charles Burney - music historian poly 501 279 546 237 567 239 572 308 560 326 537 316 530 300 502 289 Thomas Warton - poet laureate poly 572 453 591 446 572 373 603 351 562 325 592 288 573 260 573 248 591 243 615 254 637 280 655 334 705 396 656 419 625 382 609 391 613 453 Oliver Goldsmith - writer rect 450 86 584 188 prob.The Infant Academy 1782 rect 286 87 376 191 unknown painting circle 100 141 20 An unknown portrait poly 503 192 511 176 532 176 534 200 553 219 554 234 541 236 525 261 506 261 511 220 515 215 servant - poss. Francis Barber rect 12 10 702 500 Use button to enlarge or use hyperlinks desc bottom-left It is possible to create image maps by hand, using a text editor, however doing so requires that the web designer knows how to code HTML and also requires them to know the coordinates of the areas that they wish to place over the image. As a result, most image maps coded by hand are simple polygons. Because creating image maps in a text editor requires much time and effort, there are many applications that allow the web designer to quickly and easily create image maps much as they would create shapes in a vector graphics editor. Examples of these are Adobe's Dreamweaver or KImageMapEditor (for KDE), and the imagemap plugin found in GIMP. Rollover effects When designing an image map it is important to indicate to the user that the image is mapped. This may be done by a text instruction accompanying the image (like the one illustrating this page), by an indication within the image itself, or by a rollover effect which will alert the user that different sections of the image will respond differently to their interaction. When using an editor capable of layering images such as Photoshop or GIMP, sections of the image may be cut and pasted in place over a copy of the image which has reduced brightness. These highlighted areas will stand out to the user. Client-side image maps can be implemented so that the user is given a visual indication of what can be clicked on. This can be an indication of the position of all the hot spots, or can be a rollover indication of the currently active hot spot. This functionality cannot be implemented using pure HTML, but can be implemented when a Clickable image is built using a programming environment such as XHTML with Cascading Style Sheets, ECMAScript and Java. Rollover effects can be implemented by writing ECMAScript code to swap out the entire image with one that has that particular area highlighted, but this technique can use a considerable amount of bandwidth. Another solution is to script one or more page elements to respond as the mouse moves over the image. See also *Kevin Hughes *Commons:Image map resources References External links * Info on Image Maps from the W3C Category:HTML Category:Computer graphics de:Verweissensitive Grafik eo:Klakebla mapo it:Mappa immagine nl:Image map pl:Image map pt:Image map ru:Карта изображений